Balancing skill game

ABSTRACT

A ferrous disc has a bubble level located at the center of its upper surface and a partially spherical body fastened to the center of its lower surface. At rest on a base, the object is inclined somewhat from a perfect level condition. The players set small magnetic playing-pieces on the upper surface in an attempt to bring the object to an exactly level condition whereupon the bubble is in the exact center of the level. The one whose piece finally brings it to this state is declared the winner of the game.

United States Patent Philippi Oct. 24, 1972 [54] BALANCING SKILL GAME3,092,384 6/1963 Herne ..273/1 R 72 Inve-ntor: Charles w Philippi BucksRoad 3,559,989 2/1971 BI'CSlOW ......273/l R Perkasie, Pa. 18944 [22]Filed: March 24, 1971 [21] Appl.N o.: 127,730

[52] US. Cl ..273/1 M, 273/1 L [51] Int. Cl. ..A63f 9/00 [58] Field ofSearch ..273/1 R, l E, 1 M, 1 L; 73/483, 484, 485, 486

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,729,947 10/1929 v Lannen..73/483 2,306,528 12/1942 Davis et a]. ..73/483 X 3,287,979 1 1/1966Dohring ..73/483 2,330,951 10/1943 Burmester et al. .273/1 M UX Prick..273/ l E Primary Examiner-Richard C. Pinkham Assistant Examiner-PaulE. Shapiro Attorney-Zachary T. Wobensmith [5 7] ABSTRACT A ferrous dischas a bubble level located at the center of its upper surface and apartially spherical body fastened to the center of its lower surface. Atrest on a base, the object is inclined somewhat from a perfect levelcondition. The players set small magnetic playing-pieces on the uppersurface in an attempt to bring the object to an exactly level conditionwhereupon the bubble is in the exact center of the level. The one whosepiece finally brings it to this state is declared the winner of thegame.

8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDIIBTZMBYZ 3.700.234

FIG. 3

INVENTOR CHARLES W. PHILIPPI I W, MLLMM'Q'W ATTORNEY BALANCING SKILLGAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A. Field of the Invention Thisinvention relates to games of skill and in particular to a balancinggame.

B. Prior Art Games are knownin which weights or other pieces are placedon a surface of an object by the players until the surface tilts to apredetermined degree at which time the winner is declared. One such gameinvolves a platform or board which is pivotally supported at each endand is locked into a horizontal position at the beginning of the game.The players place a certain number of pieces on it while so locked. Thenthe lock is released and if the board tilts toward one of the players heis declared the winner.

Another balancing game involves a hemispheric body having a vertical rodextending upward from the center of its flat horizontal surface. At thetop end of the rod a cup is mounted for holding a loose object such as aI-Iumpty-Dumpty representation. The players put pieces on the flatsurface until the addition of one piece by a player causes the rod totilt so much that Humpty Dumpty comes tumbling down. That player isdeclared the winner.

In all known games, the object is to go from a balanced to apredetermined unbalanced condition. Furthermore, in known games theplacement of the object in attempting to bring about the unbalancedcondition does not require a considerable amount of skill and thought.The present invention, in which a highly-sensitive, bubble-level is usedand in which the device is brought from an unbalanced condition to abalanced condition, affords more mental exercise and test of manualdexterity than such prior devices.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The game device has a partially sphericalportion attached at the center of the lower surface of a disc-likeplaying-piece supporting portion. A level such as a bubble level ismounted at the center of the upper surface of said piece-supportportion. At the beginning of the game when no pieces are set on saidupper surface, the supporting portion will be somewhat tilted away fromthe horizontal. The players set playing pieces on the upper surface inan attempt to bring the bubble to the true level position, the one whosepiece finally produces this result being declared the winner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of thebalancing game A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to FIG.1 there is shown generally at the numeral 5 the balancing deviceaccording to the present invention. It comprises a disc 6 made of metalor other rigid material measuring, for example, 8 inches in diameter. Onits upper surface there is a bubble level 7 mounted approximately at thecenter thereof by adhesive or any other known fastening method. Directlybelow the bubble level 7 and attached to the center of the lower surfaceof the disc 6 is a body 8 having a curved, partly spherical surface 8a.If the device 5 is placed upon a table, floor, or other hard surface,the curved surface 8a will have its lowermost portion on the floor and,in the ordinary course, the disc 6 will be tilted somewhat away fromthe-horizontal due to slight imperfect weight distribution caused byminutely imprecise alignments of the bubble level, the body 8, ornon-uniform thicknesses and/0r fabrication of the various componentssuch as the disc 6. In manufacture, it may even be desired to introducenon-uniformities, eccentricities, or asymmetries to produce the initialunbalanced condition. As a result, the bubble 7a will not be centeredexactly at the junction of the two crosshairs 7b (or within the circlemarked on the center of the level if that is present). I

To use the device 5 in a balancing game, a number of players-areprovided with playing pieces 9. The game can be played two ways. In oneway, the players in sequence set one playing piece at a time, at anyunoccupied spot on the upper surface of the disc 6 which they believe islikely to bring the device to the true horizontal level position denotedby the appearance of the bubble 7a in dead center. The winner is the onewho places his playing piece 9 in a position such that this ultimatebalance condition is fulfilled. A second way to play is to have eachplayers performance measured against time. In other words, each playersets out as many of his playing pieces as are necessary to achieve theabsolute balance condition and time required for him to do so ismeasured against the corresponding tirnerequired by the other players.

If the disc 6 is made 3 of a ferrous metal, the playing pieces 9 can besmall onefourth inch squares or other shaped magnets. Being magnetic,once they are put upon the ferrous disc 6, they will not slide when thedisc 6 is tilted, or when it is accidentally moved by a maladroitplayer. Alternatively the playing pieces 9 can be of some non-metallicmaterial. The only requirement is that their lower surface issufficiently frictional with respect to the upper surface of disc 6 thatit will not. easily slide. Of course if the disc surface is non-slipperythe pieces 9 need not have frictional surfaces. The disc 6 itself can bemade of plastic, or of any other rigid planar materials. Actually thedisc can be supplanted by other shaped piece-supporting bodies and couldeven be somewhat convex or concave so long as the pieces do not slide.

The disc may alternatively take the form of disc 6' shown in FIG. 4which is generally flat and circular and made of metal or plastic with acentral hollow portion 6a shown in FIG. 4 which is generally flat andcircular and made of metal or plastic with a central hollow portion 6aformed integrally therein. In this form it is not necessary to supply aseparate supporting body 8 and cement it to the disc. The portion 6a canbe filled with plastic or other filler and the bubble level 7 may beanchored in or otherwise adhered to the plastic. Alternatively, thelevel 7 may simply be suspended in or above the hollow at a plurality ofpoints at the edge or inner surfaceof the hollow or at selected pointson the upper surface of the disc around the hollow Still other forms ofthe invention which do not depart from its basic concept will occur toothers upon perusing the specification and drawings herein.Consequently, I desire my invention to be limited solely by the claimswhich follow.

I claim:

1. An amusement device comprising:

a curved surface portion adapted to rest upon a predetermined base,

a playing-piece supporting portion of a ferrous material whose lowersurface is disposed above said curved surface portion and has an uppersurface on which a plurality of playing pieces may be set,

a level disposed on said upper surface substantially at the centerthereof which indicates when said device has attained a level conditionin response to the setting of; playing pieces on said upper surface, and

a plurality of playing pieces of magnetic material and adapted to adheremagnetically to said supporting portion when placed upon said supportingportion.

2. The invention according to claim 1 wherein said curved surfaceincludes at least a portion of a spherical surface, and wherein saidsupporting portion is positioned approximately at its center withrespect to said curved surface portion.

3. The device according to claim 2 wherein said par- 5 tially sphericalportion is integral with said playingiece supporting portion.

4. The device according to claim 2 wherein said spherical surface ispart of a section of a sphere which is cemented to said supportingportion and said level is cemented to the other side of said supportingportion opposite said section of a sphere and substantially alignedtherewith.v

5. The device according to claim 1 wherein said curved surface portionhas a substantially flat surface

1. An amusement device comprising: a curved surface portion adapted torest upon a predetermined base, a playing-piece supporting portion of aferrous material whose lower surface is disposed above said curvedsurface portion and has an upper surface on which a plurality of playingpieces may be set, a level disposed on said upper surface substantiallyat the center thereof which indicates when said device has attained alevel condition in response to the setting of playing pieces on saidupper surface, and a plurality of playing pieces of magnetic materialand adapted to adhere magnetically to said supporting portion whenplaced upon said supporting portion.
 2. The invention according to claim1 wherein said curved surface includes at least a portion of a sphericalsurface, and wherein said supporting portion is positioned approximatelyat its center with respect to said curved surface portion.
 3. The deviceaccording to claim 2 wherein said partially spherical portion isintegral with said playing-piece supporting portion.
 4. The deviceaccording to claim 2 wherein said spherical surface is part of a sectionof a sphere which is cemented to said supporting portion and said levelis cemented to the other side of said supporting portion opposite saidsection of a sphere and substantially aligned therewith.
 5. The deviceaccording to claim 1 wherein said curved surface portion has asubstantially flat surface on which said supporting portion rests. 6.The device according to claim 1 wherein said supporting portion issubstantially planar.
 7. The device according to claim 6 wherein saidsupporting portion is substantially disc-shaped.
 8. The device accordingto claim 1 wherein said playing pieces have adherence to said uppersurface sufficient to prevent their sliding about on said upper surfaceregardless of the inclination of said supporting portion when saidcurved surface portion rests on said base.